


Protection Or Suffocation?

by Violent_Bulldog



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anne and Kat are the kids of the group, Beheaded Cousins, Fluff and Angst, Fuck that man, Henry VIII was scum, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Jane has a really angry side and we all seem to forget that, Jane is protective, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Other, Past Abuse, Too protective, as they should be, minor alcohol abuse, thank you very much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23302132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violent_Bulldog/pseuds/Violent_Bulldog
Summary: An argument gets out of hand and Jane does something that she instantly regrets
Relationships: Anne Boleyn & Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn & Katherine Howard, Catherine Parr & Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr & Katherine Howard, Katherine Howard & Catherine of Aragon, Katherine Howard & Jane Seymour
Comments: 6
Kudos: 156





	Protection Or Suffocation?

Anne appreciated Jane. She appreciated the way Jane mothered her, how she truly cared about the young girl. Anne often found herself referring to Jane as "Mum" much like Kat did. But sometimes, Jane was just a little bit overbearing. 

"Have you eaten today?"

"Yes"

"Have you showered in the last two days?"

"Yes"

"Have you been drinking enough water?"

"Yes"

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Yes!"

Anne did know how to take care of herself. She didn't need Jane constantly breathing down her neck and making sure that she was okay. It was nice at first, but this was daily. 

It was the queens day off, so Anne and Kat were, naturally, ecstatic. The youngest queens always had so much energy that Aragon often claimed that they stole most of hers. They were planning to go out to the park and play on the swings until they couldn't feel their legs anymore. But, naturally, Jane had to make sure that they were okay before they left.

"Have you got your phones?"

"Yes"

"And you know what time to be back by?"

"Yes"

"And you know to look both ways before crossing the road? It gets busy around this time"

Anne rolled her eyes. She was being treated like a little kid and she was getting sick of it.

"We know how to cross a road" She stated bluntly. Jane turned to face her, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"I'm just making sure that you'll both be okay. You're practically my kids" She said back, her tone more serious than anyone liked to hear it. It caught the attention of the other queens, who all looked up from what they were doing.

"You don't need to treat us like infants though. Just because you never got to be a mum to-" Anne quickly cut herself off, shaking her head. Her gaze flickered down to the carpet.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I swear-" She was cut off again, but not by words. There was a sharp sound that echoed around the room and Anne stumbled backwards, her hands rising to her cheek. Jane stared at her own hand in shock at what she had just done. 

"Anne!"

"Jane!"

"Jane!"

"Jane!" The other queens all shouted in unison, Kat immediately going to her cousin's side. Anne stood in shock, her hands clutching her face. Kat saw the tears shining in her eyes and could hear her ragged breathing.

"Anne, come on. It's okay, just breathe with me, yeah?" She whispered, breathing slowly. Anne followed her little cousin's guide, slowly breathing. Once she lowered her hands from her cheek however, both girls flinched. There was a gash just underneath Anne's eye, which was already beginning to bruise, from where Jane's ring must have made contact. The small amount of blood was enough to make both the girls uncomfortable. 

"C-Come on, Kitty. Let's go" Anne whispered, her voice breaking softly. Kat just nodded, following her cousin outside and slamming the front door, letting the remaining queens know that she was upset. 

Jane sunk down into the couch, holding her head in her hands. She sighed deeply, trying to process what had just happened.

"What the hell was that?" Aragon snapped. Although she didn't show it as much, she was practically the cousins' second mother in this life-time.

"I don't- I don't know. I was just trying to take care of them and then Anne was going to mention... Edward, and I just snapped" Jane whispered, slowly looking up at the three women around her. Aragon looked angry, Cathy looked distressed and Anna looked uncomfortable. 

"So, your immediate action was to slap Anne?" Cathy murmured, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. 

"I didn't mean to! It just... happened. I've never raised my hand to anyone" Jane tried to protest, but Aragon cut her off.

"You may never have raised your hand to anyone, but that doesn't mean that you haven't hurt them before. You've always favoured Kat over Anne, even though they're both the youngest among us. In the past, you played a key role in Anne's beheading and then, you were engaged to Henry the very next day and then married to him before the month even ended! You've been patronizing her for the last few months and treating her like she's a little kid. She's an adult, Jane. She can make her own choices and take care of herself. You had no right to lay a finger on her, especially after she immediately apologised for what she had nearly said" She ranted, pacing around the room. Cathy and Anna stayed silent, but it was obvious that they agreed. Jane just sighed again.

"I need to apologise to her when she comes home"

Katherine hated it when people fought. All she had wanted was a fun day at the park with her cousin. She knew that Jane could be a little bit too protective of the duo, but she didn't mind it too much. She was just happy that someone cared for her. But, she knew that Anne didn't like being restricted. Anne needed freedom to do whatever she wanted, otherwise, she wouldn't be like herself. She would be moody and quiet and Kat hated it when Anne was quiet. She needed her cousin's chaotic energy to break away from her own life and memories sometimes. 

The duo were sat on the swings, swinging silently. Anne hadn't said a word since they had left the house, but Kat knew that she was still shaken up about what had happened. Once they had arrived at the park, Kat had hesitantly helped the cut under Anne's eye to stop bleeding. They both were majorly uncomfortable with blood because of their past, but neither of them wanted the cut to become infected, so they took deep breathes and got it over with. That led them to where they are now, slowly swinging on the swings. 

"You know she didn't mean it, yeah?" Kat said softly. Anne turned her head to face her cousin. Kat winced at the sight of her eye, which was bruising quicker than she thought it would. 

"You don't hit someone on accident" She muttered, stopping her swing. Kat stopped hers a moment later, glancing at her cousin.

"I mean, she's been really stressed lately. The shows are exhausting her and she struggled to sleep. She was gonna snap soon anyways, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time" Anne scoffed at Kat's words.

"Or maybe, I broke her. You all already know that I'm a lot to handle and I don't know why you bother. I'm obnoxious and loud and annoying and... a jerk. You all should hate me and I think I managed to get Jane to realise it. She snapped because she realised how shitty of a person I am" Anne ignored the tears slipping down her cheeks, only wincing slightly when they made contact with the fresh cut. Kat stood up and went to her cousin's side before carefully sitting in her lap. She weighed as much as a feather, so Anne just steadied her feet on the ground to support her little cousin. Kat wrapped her arms around Anne's shoulders.

"You're so dumb sometimes. You're not annoying or obnoxious or a jerk. You're confident and proud and supportive and caring. I remember when I fell during rehearsals and skint my knee, you were the first person by my side. You kept asking if I was okay and you made sure that I didn't see the blood while Cathy put a plaster over it. I remember when someone was sending Anna insults about her appearance, you started a live stream on Instagram and ranted about how beautiful she is and how the person who was sending her hate was obviously just insecure about how they looked, and then a couple hours later, that person sent an apology to Anna. I remember when someone in the streets said that you looked weird compared to the rest of us and you just said that being different is what makes us all perfect. You're amazing, Anne. And we all love you. So, so, so much more than you know" Kat said softly, playing with Anne's hair gently. Anne clung to Kat, sobbing quietly into her shoulder.

"I love you too, Kitkat" She murmured after she'd calmed down slightly. Kat smiled and pulled back from the embrace.

"Wanna go get ice cream? My treat?" Anne grinned at the offer, wiping the remaining tears from her face.

"You think I'd turn down free ice cream?"

It was late in the evening before the cousins came home. They would normally have been home before six, normally when dinner was ready, but today, they came home after eleven. All of the other queens had tried to call the duo multiple times, but all their calls were ignored. When they stumbled through the door, Cathy and Anna had to catch them so they didn't fall to the floor. The young duo immediately broke into fits of laughter.

"Are you- Are you both drunk?" Cathy asked, only getting more laughter in response. She glanced at Anna.

"Seems like it" She murmured, dragging Kat towards the couch. Cathy followed her, dragging Anne. The drunk girls landed in a heap on the couch, giggling at nothing in particular. Cathy sighed as she heard two sets of footsteps on the stairs.

"We heard the door slam open and laughing" Aragon said, stepping into the living room with Jane following behind her, only to spot the mess of girls on the couch.

"Hiya" Anne grinned up at her, before breaking into another fit of laughter with Kat. Aragon shot Jane a glare before turning back to the duo.

"Where were you two? You had us worried" She said, kneeling beside them. 

"Annie was sad and saying bad things about herself, so we got ice cream. And then, we went to get drinks!" Kat grinned at the three queens she could see. She lifted her head to see Jane and her smile instantly fell. She flopped her head back so she didn't have to see the older woman.

"Bad things? What kind of bad things?" Cathy spoke up, glancing between the girls and Jane.

"How she must be a shitty person to make Jane snap at her. And how she didn't think we loved her, even though we doooo!" Kat said in a sing-song voice before breaking into giggles with Anne. Cathy heard Jane sniffle before her footsteps were heard as she returned to her room. 

"Do one of you two want to try and deal with Jane and the other help me try and get these two to bed?" Aragon said while supporting Anne as she stood. The other two noticed the way the young girl swayed, even with support. 

"I'll go deal with Jane" Anna said before heading to the stairs. Cathy helped Kat to stand and noticed the way that she swayed less than Anne did.

The trip up three flights of stairs with two drunk girls was much harder than it had to be, but eventually, the four queens were in Anne's bedroom. They knew that the cousins would normally share a bed because they were both constantly prone to nightmares of their past. Aragon sighed as she dropped Anne down on her bed.

"Are you two capable of getting changed by yourselves?" She asked. Kat shrugged before giggling again and Anne stared out her window in a daze.

"Guess that's a no" Cathy sighed before grabbing Kat again to help her. Aragon also sighed before helping Anne. 

As Aragon was fixing Anne's shirt, she couldn't help but notice some fairly fresh scars on the young girl's forearms. She knew that they weren't from the girl's past and they were definitely self-inflicted. She sighed softly before leaving the room with Cathy when both girls were changed and laying in Anne's bed. Aragon noticed that Cathy seemed tense too.

"You alright?" She asked, startling the younger girl slightly.

"Yeah, it's just... Kat had scars on her arms. They didn't look recent, but I'm pretty sure that she did it to herself" Cathy said softly, her mind clearly wandering. Aragon turned to look at the now-closed door to Anne's room, biting her bottom lip.

"Anne had scars too, but they looked fresh. Not as in she did it today, but maybe within the last week or so" She replied. Cathy muttered something to herself as she continued down the stairs. Aragon chose to ignore it, more focused on the fact that the youngest queens, her kids, were suffering.

Katherine groaned as the sunlight poured into the window and directly into her face. She shifted on the bed- wait, when the hell did she get into bed? And when did she get changed into pyjamas? She slowly cracked her eyes open, squinting because the sun was still in her eyes, and recognised that she was in Anne's room. She moved her leg and heard a whine. Okay, so Anne and herself had made it back to the house somehow, but how did they get upstairs?

"Oh, shit" She whined, closing her eyes again. The other queens must have helped them. And that meant that they all saw the duo drunk.

"Wait... shit" She whined again as she heard a muffled noise that vaguely sounded like Anne telling her to be quiet.

"Oh, wake up!" Kat muttered, jabbing Anne in the ribs with her foot, which earned her grumbled whimper in pain. 

"Too early" Anne mumbled, pulling the duvet over her head. Kat scowled quietly.

"Bitch, move. You need to talk to Jane or she needs to talk to you... something like that. And I need pancakes... and paracetamol" Kat kicked Anne again as she sat up, the room spinning for a few moments before steadying again. She slowly stood from the bed before going to Anne's wardrobe to steal some clothes. She heard Anne sit up behind her.

"Uh oh" Anne whispered.

"Here we go?" Kat replied, automatically, even though that wasn't her line. Anne rolled her eyes.

"No. Look at your shirt. Look at my shirt" She said softly. Kat glanced at the pyjama shirt she was wearing, her eyes going wide.

"Short-sleeves" She whispered, glancing at Anne again. She was biting her nails as Kat chewed her lip. Crap.

"Great" Anne mumbled before standing to get changed too. They changed in silence before leaving the room. Kat gently took Anne's hand into her own and she sensed how much Anne relaxed as they made their way downstairs.

Cathy knew to make pancakes that morning. Although she'd never seen Katherine or Anne drunk before, she had seen them tipsy and the next morning, they both were craving her pancakes. She also had bottles of water and paracetamol sitting out for whenever they arrived downstairs. She hadn't slept the previous night, her mind running full-time. Would things be okay with Anne and Jane? Would she have to talk to Anne and Katherine about the scars that Aragon and herself had found? Would the two girls finally open up about their past lives and the nightmares that the entire household knew they both had?

"Hey Cathy!" Kat smiled as she walked into the kitchen. Cathy jumped, slightly shocked to see the young duo up so early. Well, early for them. She couldn't help but to smile slightly when she saw that Kat was wearing a green hoodie. They all knew that the cousins shared clothes constantly, but it was still cute to see it. 

"Hey Kit. How'd you feel?" She asked as both girls slumped down in their chairs. Anne's eyes lit up at the sight of pain killers, quickly taking some, whereas Kat's eyes lit up at the sight of pancakes.

"There's pancakes. Everything is good in the world" She said before rolling her eyes as Anne dunted her leg. The older cousin pointed towards the paracetamol, making Kat take some quickly. She hummed contently.

"They'll be ready in a sec. Anne, how do you feel?" Cathy asked, knowing to be careful with her chosen words. 

"Fine" Okay, Cathy was good with that answer. At least Anne was talking while sober again, unlike yesterday. The room fell into a semi-comfortable silence, just the soft music from the radio. Cathy served the duo their pancakes, laughing to herself when she saw how wide Kat's eyes got. She sat to the youngest girl's left, sipping her coffee contently. Aragon came down soon after, grabbing her usual cereal before sitting to Anne's right. She couldn't help but notice the bruising around the young girl's eye and the semi-scabbed cut underneath. 

"So, how hungover are you both?" There was no bite to her voice, just an amused smirk on her face. Cathy almost choked on her coffee, trying not to laugh, as Kat dropped her fork.

"Umm... not?" Kat whispered, trying to play innocent. And it almost worked, until Aragon saw the paracetamol box beside Kat and the half-empty bottles of water beside both girls. 

"Uh, huh, sure. You gonna tell us about what happened last night?" Okay, her godmother's approach wasn't as subtle as Cathy had thought it would be, but alright. If it got them to talk, then sure, okay.

"What do you mean?" Kat mumbled, staring intently at her pancakes. Cathy had to fight the smile tugging at her lips.

"Well, you came home five hours later than you were meant to, you ignored all of our calls and texts, you were both drunk and Cathy and myself had to help you both get changed" Aragon said, making sure to keep any anger out of her voice. She wasn't particularly angry at the girls, but she'd been worried for them all night. Cathy swallowed nervously, dreading the next part of this conversation.

"Meaning you saw...?" Anne whispered, refusing to look at any of the others.

"The scars, yeah. We're not mad at either of you for it, we just want you both to know that we're here for you if you need to talk. We care about you more than either of you know" Anne scoffed quietly. Kat kicked her shin lightly, silently telling her cousin just accept the fact that they all loved her.

"Mu- Jane doesn't" Anne stuttered, fidgeting with her fingers.

"I'm not going to make an excuse for her. What she did was completely out of line and she knows that. Anna went to talk to her while Cathy and I helped you two to bed and she said that she was distraught. That she was ashamed of herself. That she thinks that your relationship is ruined and that she doesn't know how to fix it. She was out of line, but she still cares for you. What you nearly said yesterday was mostly true. She treats both of you like her kids because she didn't get to be a mum to Edward. But, I think she didn't realise that until you said it. Which is why she lashed out. You told the truth and it shocked her" Aragon explained. Anne sighed shakily. 

"I didn't mean to say it. But, she kept trying to protect me. It just... kept reminding me of Henry. He wouldn't let me read or paint or anything that I wanted to do back then, and then Jane is telling me not to stay out too late and to look both ways before crossing a road and I just couldn't deal with it. Of course, I still love her, but I can't help but be reminded of the way he treated me. It makes me feel like I'm choking. I just... need to be free to just like, run across the road or to jump from the swing when it's up high or to just do the things that kids love to do. I never got to be a kid or to be independent and do what I wanted, so this feels like my only chance. I wanna be dumb and reckless, but to come home and still be cared for" Anne wasn't sure when she started to cry or when Kat had taken one of her hands into her own. She shook her head and wiped her eyes with her free hand. 

"Oh, sweetheart" Everyone at the table flinched at the sudden voice. They all turned to see Jane standing in the doorway, tears filling her eyes. Anne looked away quickly and Kat squeezed her hand reassuringly. Jane didn't move closer, seeing how timid the young girl seemed.

"H-How much of that did you hear?" Anne asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. 

"Most of the conversation. But, I want you to hear it from me. I'm so sorry for how I reacted yesterday. It was awful and inexcusable for me to lay my hand on you, especially since you apologised immediately after you said it. I didn't know that my actions made you feel like that, you're an adult, you should be able to make your own decisions. I'm sorry that I made you feel restricted and I'm sorry that I reminded you of... him. I'll do my best to give you more space to do your own thing, but you're still always going to be like my daughter" Jane said softly, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

"Good, because I don't want to lose you. You've cared for me more than anyone ever has and I never want to lose that" Anne replied before standing up and hugging Jane tightly. The older woman reciprocated the hug quickly, sighing contently. When they separated, Jane noticed the tiredness in both of her girls' faces.

"Want a hangover cure?" She asked, entering the kitchen properly.

"Please" The cousins mumbled in unison. 


End file.
